Ridiculous. Support this statement.
Ridiculous. Support this statement.
I missed the 'provocation' exception in the Florida Stand Your Ground act when I first posted from it. Cboldt picked up on it from the full Chapter 776 I linked and quoted the provocation exception.
There is one, but it's not absolute. Florida Statute 776.041(2) says the Stand Your Ground justification isn't available to a person who:
(a) Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant; or (b) In good faith, the person withdraws from physical contact with the assailant and indicates clearly to the assailant that he or she desires to withdraw and terminate the use of force, but the assailant continues or resumes the use of force.Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself, unless:
I'm specifically not opining as to whether Zimmerman met either or both of those exceptions, because I haven't seen the police report (and it may well include conflicting statements) or heard from all of the witnesses, or Zimmerman, and we'll never hear from Martin. I'm simply pointing out that there is a provocation exception in the Florida Stand Your Ground law, and I appreciate Cboldt drawing my attention to it.